The continents, a specific feature of our planet, still hold many secrets. Using chemical data on sedimentary rocks compiled from the scientific literature from the 1980s to the present day, CNRS researcher Marion Garçon has uncovered a new geological history of the continents. She shows that their growth was not a continuous process, and that they have always been rich in silica. This new study, published on September 22, 2021 in Science Advances, calls into question certain models of the onset of plate tectonics and provides us with a better understanding of continental growth through time.